(Article) Corruption in India Rooted Deeply: Civil Services Mentor Magazine September 2011

One would say the corruption in India has an ancient linkage,and it is deeply rooted in our tradition. The author of the Arthasastra made some remarks on government officials of his time which are relevant even today: “Just as it is impossible not to taste the honey or the poison that finds itself at the tip of the tongue, so it is impossible for a government servant not to eat up at least a bit of the king’s revenue. These in the post-war world became only bolder while eating up government money and accepting bribes. A corrupt person is termed immoral, dishonest and unscrupulous in his dealings. His disregard for honesty, righteousness and truth results in his alienation from society. He is treated with contempt. But as erosion of values leads to decadence, remedies for the social malaise remain elusive, and so no amount of contempt can eradicate corruption which is a symptom of decadence.

When we ask a question to ourselves that why India is still not a developed nation even after 60 years of independence? Why there is not enough development when India is having immense potential and talent at par with any developed nation have? The answer is very simple. The main culprit behind this situation is widespread corruption in every field. To get an admission in a college…to get a legal paper from a Government office…to get an approval for the construction of a house…to get an electricity connection…to do an urgent surgery for life saving……. Thus not even nook and corner of the daily life is spared from this evil. Now, people so adapted and well familiar with the situation and ready to give bribe without any hesitation and accepted as a part of the system. They also will demand bribe when they are sitting in a decisive position. This is the epicenter of this deadly evil which spread over the entire system from executive to class IV level. The only motive to become a people’s representative, a civil servant or even an attender is how to get the undeserved money.The more dangourous fact…bribes and corruption got reputation in society. If there is an official who dosent accepts bribe…he will be isolated even in public and will have an image of usless person. In today’s India these officials representing all government departments are very close to the most corrupt businessmen who are too unscrupulous to let any opportunity of amassing profits slip. This collusion broadens the base of the vicious circle and corruption spreads ‘like wild fire to engulf the entire society. The political and social guardians depend only too much on the richer communities and they look indulgently on while these communities hold the entire society and the government to ransom.Corruption starts at the top and percolates down to the whole society. Such corruption cannot be confined to the towns alone. It is as widespread in the villages where the dishonest officials and the traders carry the germs of the disease. Economic need and exposure to western luxuries are tempting factors in society for the youth. They try to find means and ways to make money, however deceptive or defective these methods may be. It is meaningless to blame the system, it is the defect of people who handle the same.A number of reasons like lack of stringent legislation, slow and delayed judicial systems, poverty, illiteracy, lack of faith in “Dharma” or righteousness, greedy mind and a tendency to be smart are responsible behind corruption. It is not prevalent in India only but Corruption is today a world-wide phenomenon.

It is shameful that the officials meant for administering public welfare themselves provide enough scope to the offenders to commit the offence and go scot-free, for equal compensation that they get from the offenders. Here, if the statute provides severe punishment (more than the one provided to the offender) to the erring official, perhaps, corruption could be minimised. Society itself has had a drastic change in its behaviour today, to what it was earlier. The need to be morally upright is irrelevant, under the speed of its activity.

REMEDIES:

Corruption can not be abolished overnigh, first, political parties should take the responsibility and highly principled & determined personalities have to lead the executive. With persistent efforts, the mindset of the public has to change. Cant say how much time it will take… this evil spread over and established by taking 50 years…any way let us transfer the hope and luck to next generation. There are many legal as well as illegal means and methods with which one can come out unscathed after committing any offence. It requires only a management skill to convince the right forums. Therefore, if society has to be cleansed from being immorality and illegal doings, just legislation, however stringent will not help. The resistance to commit offences should be developed from one’s conscience or heart and it can never be created fully by legislation. Hence, inculcating moral values in people right from infancy could provide the remedy over a period of time. If the economic levels of the society could be improved, so that luxuries become basics and the value for them also become affordable, corruption would be unnecessary.

Democratic spirit can flourish only in an environment of openness and trust. Every citizen should know what the administrators, working under the overall control of people’s representatives, are doing. Since administration in a democracy serves the public interest, there is no need or justification for hiding the decision making process from the public scrutiny Transparency in public administration will bring about a fundamental change in the attitude of people. Tenets of transparency will require the civil servants to publicly display the names of beneficiaries of a development scheme along with selection criteria and the procedure for making the selection. The requirement for public disclosure will ensure that civil servants take correct and defensible decisions. They will, henceforth treat all the citizens as their masters and they will have to keep them in good humour if they have to retain their jobs and privileges. Government agencies are financed by taxes and levies imposed on citizens. They are, therefore, answerable and accountable to the public for their acts of omission and commission. Freedom of Information Act will put premium on probity and integrity in the functioning of the civil servants. Since all their activities subserve the public interest they have nothing to hide.They will readily supply all the information about government policies and decisions to the people whenever approached by them. People will then give them respect and recognition that they rightly deserve. It is only the dishonest and the devious that would be hard pressed to hide their partisan decisions.

In a modern welfare and development administration, the government provides a large number of services to the citizens. If these services are indifferently or inefficiently performed, people can rightfully protest and complain. They can insist on optimum utilization of the taxes and service charges paid by them to finance the civic services like water supply, power supply, sanitation and public health care. Dereliction of duty by public servants will be immediately detected and publicized and criticized by the public. It will put a tremendous pressure on the civil servants to perform or lose their face or even their jobs.The advancement of Information technology is very much conducive to the successful implementation of the Right to Information if enacted by the government now. The storage, retrieval and dissemination of vast amount of information have been greatly facilitated by the successive improvement in computers. Since the enforcement of Right to Information requires an enabling Freedom of Information Act, the existing government can always formulate the provisions of the Act in such a way as to leave for the government sufficient leeway to conceal many decisions or decision making processes from public scrutiny. The Freedom of Information Bill, which has been presented to the Parliament, has a very long list of exceptional situations wherein it is not incumbent upon the government agencies to part with information. It is, however, expected that once the people get used to obtain information contained in the government files, their appetite for information will be whetted and they will ask for more information. Lokpal can be another milestone towards abolishing corruption from India.